Planet Bug Part 1

Suddenly awakened by a splash of cold water; no, not a splash, a torrent. Drowning under water, and, while refreshing in comparison to being under three feet of sand and dirt, still means death if one remains under it. The man swims upwards, against the current, and breaks the surface. He’s behind a waterfall, in a small rocky alcove, the sound of the falls echoing peacefully yet forcefully all around him. He stays for a tick, catching his breath, gaining his bearings before going back under the water, to get to the other side. Once under and out, he re-emerges, and sees his surrounding: a dense jungle. Swimming for the beach, he wonders what he could possibly do here.

He reaches the wet sand, and lays there for a moment, composing himself. Then, he is slightly annoyed by a buzzing. It’s loud, so figuring it’s close, he swats it away, but it does not disappear. In fact, it gets louder. A gentle breeze cools his face, and he tries to ignore the buzzing and flapping of wings. The sound soon becomes deafening, and to his closed eyes it seems a cloud is blocking the calm sun. He opens them to see some sort of giant wasp hovering over him, as tall as the trees around, salivating over this morsel of food laid out before it. Its large pincers could easily slice him in half, and he would be worried about that, if the wasp could not swallow him whole with just as much ease. It strikes with its strong mandibles – he rolls to the side, and just barely evades an acid filled death inside the belly of this giant insect. Confused that it has missed its target, and gotten a mouthful of sand, it scuttles around, breaking down trees in its wake. It regains its bearings, as the man heads for the tree line for cover. It attacks again as he leaps behind the tree that its giant pincers cut in twain like butter. Disturbed, it scuttles around again, flapping its wings, sending a gust of wind the man’s way, knocking him off his feet. He gets up as the wasp-like giant hones in on him once more, staring at him, locked on his movements with its large compound, insect eyes. The man runs without looking for a path, his eyes locked firmly in horror at the wasp, the wasp is about to strike, Panicked, he idiotically he runs into a tree, and falls down. The wasp takes this opportunity to go for the final death-blow. Its pincers are about to grasp the man, and tear him into pieces, when it stops…

A loud screech emanates from it, a tortuous, deafening screech. The man is stunned, and looks in curiosity at the wasp, when it lifts into the air, its six arms flailing, its wings not moving; a giant, green single claw through its abdomen. An even larger praying mantis is the owner of this claw, and it grasps the wasp tighter, bringing it to its mouth, and it starts devouring it, head first. The man stares on in amazement. The sight is magnificent and terrifying. The mantis chews through the wasp’s body quickly, yet savoring every bite, the wasp’s legs twitching the whole time. When it finishes its meal it is left with only the wings, which it tosses to the side nonchalantly, before returning the way it came, its belly made large and black, filled with the chewed carcass of the now-digesting wasp.